The Legarde Twins are a country act from Australia consisting of two twins, Tom and Ted, who left home in 1945 to become cowboys, then started playing country music, and are still performing—64 years later?

.Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪljə/ə-STRAYL-yə or /ɒˈstreɪljə/o-STRAYL-yə,[7] or /ɔːˈstreɪliə/aw-STRAY-lee-ə), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent (the world's smallest),[8][9] the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

.For some 40,000 years before European settlement commenced in the late 18th century, the Australian mainland and Tasmania were inhabited by around 250 individual nations[10] of indigenous Australians.^Crown Lands in the Territory shall be sold or disposed of for any estate of freehold, except in pursuance of some contract entered into before the commencement of this Act.

[11].After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north, and European discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606,[12] the eastern half of Australia was claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales, founded on 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in the following years; the continent was explored, and during the 19th century another five largely self-governingCrown Colonies were established.^New South Wales, northeast, Woodenbong.

.On 1 January 1901 the six colonies became a federation and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed.^The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia and Indigenous Peoples 1901-1967 (Research Paper 10 2000-01) .

.Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm.^Commonwealth nor the States shall make or maintain any law which subjects any person who is born or naturalised within the Commonwealth of Australia to any discrimination or disability within the Commonwealth by reason of his racial origin.

The population is 22 million, with approximately 60% concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. .The nation's capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory.^Berndt, R. N. and C. H., End of an Era: Aboriginal Labour in the Northern Territory, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1987.

Australia is a prosperous developed country, with a multicultural society. .It ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance such as human development, quality of life, health care, life expectancy, public education, economic freedom and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.^The public reaction was such that subsequent Governments were careful to try and ensure that such incidents did not happen again.

^Although the institution of Parliament did play a role in the Yirrkala claim, the new campaign for Indigenous rights was not taken up in the Parliament until the Aboriginal groups and their white supporters had made it a national and international political issue.

Etymology

.The name Australia is derived from the Latinaustralis, meaning "southern". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita) date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography but were not based on any documented knowledge of the continent.^South Australia, Yalata, Musgrave, and Everard Ranges, and east Pitjantjatjara freehold lands and surrounding areas.

The first recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625 in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt" and published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus.[14].The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used by Dutch East India Company officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south in 1638. Australia was used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

[15]Alexander Dalrymple then used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1771), to refer to the entire South Pacific region. .In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland".[16] It also appeared on a 1799 chart by James Wilson.^As introduced, the Bill excluded 'Asiatics or aboriginal natives of Australia, Africa, the islands of the Pacific, or New Zealand.'

Artist's rendition of Port Jackson, the site where Sydney was established, viewed from the South Head. (From A Voyage to Terra Australis.)

The name Australia was popularised by Matthew Flinders who, as early as 1804, pushed for the name to be formally adopted. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis he was persuaded by his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name most familiar to the public. Flinders did so, but allowed himself the footnote:

"Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original term, it would have been to convert it to Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."^In Western Australia and Queensland Aborigines were explicitly denied the right to vote on the same terms as other residents.

[22] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.

The word Australia in Australian English is pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə].[23] Since early in the 20th century, the country has been sometimes referred to locally and internationally as Oz.N5Aussie is common colloquially as an adjective and also as a noun referring to an Australian.N6

History

Human habitation of Australia is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago[24] possibly with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. These first Australians may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. .At the time of European settlement in the 18th century, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime.^Many of the most notable events relating to Indigenous matters took place in the Parliament after this time.

.The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherers.^It recommended that voting rights be extended to all Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent both belong to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula on an unknown date in early 1606. On 26 February 1606, he made landfall at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York, near the modern town of Weipa. .During the 17th century the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland but made no attempt at settlement.^The Court also made damning observations about the whole system of justice as it related to Aborigines in the Northern Territory.

^On Australia Day 1938 the Aborigines Progressive Association organised a conference of Aborigines in Sydney as part of a Day of Mourning as a protest against the celebrations being conducted for the sesqui-centenary of British settlement in New South Wales.

Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829.

.Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia.^The Central Aboriginal Reserves were adjacent areas which had been reserved for Aborigines in three different jurisdictions, Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia.

South Australia was founded as a "free province"—that is, it was never a penal colony. .Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free" but later accepted transported convicts.^Western Australia and Northern Territory, north coast from Wyndham to mouth of Victoria River and inland.

^These included the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association and the Aborigines Progressive Association in New South Wales, the Native Union in Western Australia and the Australian Aborigines' League in Victoria.

.The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at 350,000 at the time of European settlement,[28] declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease.^Blind population: 28,000.

[29].The "Stolen Generations" (removal of Aboriginal children from their families), which historians such as Henry Reynolds have argued could be considered genocide by some definitions,[30] may have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population.^Nor are the important and controversial post-1967 discussions in the Parliament such as the debate on the 'stolen generation' following the publication in 1997 of Bringing Them Home, the Report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on its Enquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, (1) or the debate in the late 1990s on Aboriginal reconciliation.

[31].Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some conservative commentators, such as former Prime Minister Howard, as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.^Opposition speakers, and Wentworth, agreed with the Prime Minister that it would be undesirable for Commonwealth laws to be used to make Aborigines a 'race apart'.

This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars. .Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines.^Commonwealth to make special laws for Aborigines.

^The difference between the Government and the Opposition on this question was partly the result of different approaches to federalism but it also revealed some difference in the approach of the two parties to the implementation of the assimilation policy.

.Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius (literally "no one's land") at the time of European occupation.^This reservation of Aboriginal rights had very important implications following the Mabo (75) decision in 1992 in which the High Court found that, contrary to previous legal decisions, native title to land had existed in Australia prior to European settlement, that it had survived the acquisition of sovereignty by the Crown and that although it was extinguished by deliberate acts of the Crown, such as the sale of a freehold title, where land had not been 'alienated' Indigenous peoples might still be able to claim some right to the land.

^In a second case, Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd and the Commonwealth of Australia (1971) (201) the Yirrkala people took a more radical step, arguing that their traditional ownership of the land should be recognised by Australian law.

A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. .Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.^In his own account of his time as Minister, Hasluck makes much of the unity of purpose which existed, not only between the Government and Opposition but also between the Commonwealth and State Governments.

.The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence, and international shipping.^The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping.

On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting. .The Commonwealth of Australia was born and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed from a part of New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra.^New South Wales, northeast, Woodenbong.

^In the face of the public protests against the Woomera Rocket Range the Government had established an 'expert' committee, comprised of a British and an Australian representative of the project, a representative from South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and importantly Professor Elkin, to examine the possible impact of the proposed Rocket Range on Aborigines.

^Another area where the Commonwealth had direct dealings with Aborigines was through the establishment of the Woomera Rocket Range, as part of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, in northern South Australia.

(Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed.) .The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911.[32] In 1914 Australia joined Britain in fighting World War I, with support from both the outgoing Liberal Party and the incoming Labor Party.^Before its transfer to the Commonwealth the Northern Territory had had representation in the South Australian Parliament.

^In the face of the public protests against the Woomera Rocket Range the Government had established an 'expert' committee, comprised of a British and an Australian representative of the project, a representative from South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and importantly Professor Elkin, to examine the possible impact of the proposed Rocket Range on Aborigines.

[33].The Australians took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front.^In 1955 it was decided to establish a meteorological station at Giles in the Rawlinson Ranges, within the Western Australian part of the Central Reserves.

^Aborigines are not a dying race; they are not being absorbed, or assimilated ..., and there are many educated and sophisticated aborigines who want to see their race preserved intact, who do not want to be absorbed by the majority of Australians.

[34].Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action.^For an account of the Select Committee see Jack Horner, Vote Ferguson for Aboriginal Freedom , Australian and New Zealand Book Company, Sydney, 1974, pp.

^Aborigines are not a dying race; they are not being absorbed, or assimilated ..., and there are many educated and sophisticated aborigines who want to see their race preserved intact, who do not want to be absorbed by the majority of Australians.

[35].The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.^In the post-World War Two period the campaign for Constitutional change was pressed more vigorously inside and outside the Parliament.

Australian soldiers display Japanese flags they captured at Kaiapit, New Guinea in 1943.

.Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK. Australia adopted it in 1942, but backdated it to the beginning of World War II to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during the war.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

The shock of the UK's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and elsewhere was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and self-image have been transformed. .The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

[37].At the 1999 referendum, 54% of Australian voters rejected a proposal to become a republic with a president appointed by two-thirds vote of both houses of the Australian Parliament.^House of the Parliament of a State shall, while the right continues, be prevented by any law of the Commonwealth from voting at elections for either House of the Parliament of the Commonwealth.

^House of Representatives be 'as nearly as practicable, twice the number of the senators'-were both passed through the two Houses of the Parliament with the support of both sides but neither was submitted to referendum.

.Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the expansion of ties with other Pacific Rim nations while maintaining close ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading partners.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

.The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional democracy based on a federal division of powers.^Thus, in 1911 when the Northern Territory was transferred to the Commonwealth from South Australia, the Commonwealth Parliament obtained undivided law-making power over the Territory.

^Wentworth argued that the Constitution should be amended to give the Commonwealth power to make laws for the advancement of Aboriginals and to add a prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of 'race'.

^Wentworth argued that the Constitution should be amended to give the Commonwealth power to make laws for the advancement of Aboriginals and to add a prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of 'race'.

.The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.^Parliament makes other provision for the government of the Territory, the Governor General may make Ordinances having the force of law in the Territory.

^Also, much of the most notable legislation of the Commonwealth Parliament directly related to Indigenous peoples was passed after 1967 when the Commonwealth Parliament's powers in this area had been greatly expanded.

The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Representatives; the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, who by convention acts on the advice of his or her Ministers.[39]

.The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members.^Senate and House of Representatives, Debates , vol.

^In October 1951 Hasluck made a statement of policy to the House of Representatives and reported on the outcome of a Native Welfare Conference of Commonwealth and State officials which had met in September 1951.

.Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats.^On the basis of this calculation the minimum distance between the explosion and any population was set at 160 kilometres.

^Two matters for which the measure of the population of the States could be of consequence were the apportionment of revenue, or costs, between the States, and the distribution of House of Representatives seats among the States.

.In the Senate, each state is represented by twelve senators, and each of the territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory) by two.^In 1974 the Northern Territory obtained representation in the Senate with the right to elect two Senators.

.Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years, simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms, since only half of places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

Although the Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General, in practice the party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms government and its leader becomes Prime Minister.[41]

There are two major political groups that form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party, and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of two parties: the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party. .Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.^In the Parliament there were several attempts by members from all sides to have the Government improve the welfare provisions for Aborigines but the pressure was never sustained.

^Section 122 of the Constitution allowed the Parliament to grant representation to the Territory in either house but it was not until 1922 that the Territory gained representation and then only on a limited basis.

The Labor Party came to office with Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister following the November 2007 election. .Every Australian parliament (federal, state, and territory) then had a Labor government until September 2008 when the Liberal Party formed a minority government in association with the National Party in Western Australia.^In the face of the public protests against the Woomera Rocket Range the Government had established an 'expert' committee, comprised of a British and an Australian representative of the project, a representative from South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and importantly Professor Elkin, to examine the possible impact of the proposed Rocket Range on Aborigines.

^Normal Commonwealth laws operated in the Territory in the same way as elsewhere in Australia and Commonwealth Departments continued to operate directly in the Territory, but in relation to those matters which would otherwise be State matters, the Commonwealth governed through an Administrator.

In the 2004 election, the previous governing coalition led by John Howard won control of the Senate—the first time in more than 20 years that a party (or a coalition) has done so while in government. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over, in each state and territory and at the federal level.[42].Enrolment to vote is compulsory in all jurisdictions except South Australia.^The Central Aboriginal Reserves were adjacent areas which had been reserved for Aborigines in three different jurisdictions, Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia.

By contrast, federal legislation only overrides state legislation in certain areas that are set out in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution; state parliaments retain all residual legislative powers, including powers over education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport, and local government as these do not fall under the provisions listed in Section 51.[44]

Each state and major mainland territory has its own legislature or parliament: unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT, and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states. .The states are sovereign, though subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution.^Commonwealth Parliament power to make laws with respect to 'the people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it was deemed necessary to make special laws'.

The head of the government in each state is the Premier, and in each territory the Chief Minister. .The Queen is represented in each state by a Governor; an Administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Australian Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles.^Thomson, Donald, 'Interim General Report of Preliminary Expedition to Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia 1935-36', Processed, April 1936.

^Since the Act under which the Ordinance was made-the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910 -prohibited the disposal of Crown land as freehold title it was not possible for the Opposition to achieve its ultimate objective by having the Ordinance disallowed.

.Norfolk Island is also technically an external territory; however, under the Norfolk Island Act 1979 it has been granted more autonomy and is governed locally by its own legislative assembly.^The Commonwealth Government and Parliament had overseen a system under which the Aborigines in the Northern Territory were largely pauperised and excluded, with their lives regulated by administrators.

^The Act established the position of Administrator for the Territory, who was responsible to the Minister for External Affairs; the Commonwealth Parliament's legislative power in relation to the Territory were delegated to the executive branch.

Foreign relations and military

.Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

^Normal Commonwealth laws operated in the Territory in the same way as elsewhere in Australia and Commonwealth Departments continued to operate directly in the Territory, but in relation to those matters which would otherwise be State matters, the Commonwealth governed through an Administrator.

^Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, House of Representatives, Report of the Select Committee on Voting Rights of Aborigines: Part I-Report and Minutes of Proceedings , Government Printer, Canberra, 1961.

^Commonwealth of Australia, Report from the Select Committee on Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, part I-Report and Minutes of Proceedings , Government Printer, Canberra, 1963, p.

^The Aboriginal question, which was supported by all political parties, was overwhelmingly passed with a majority in support in all States, and an overall majority of 90.8 per cent-the largest ever majority for any referendum proposal in Australia.

.Australia is also negotiating a free trade agreement with Japan, with whom Australia has close economic ties as a trusted partner in the Asia-Pacific region.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

[46].Australia, along with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore are party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements, a regional defence agreement.^The apparent reticence of the Liberal-Country Party Government to use the new power of the Parliament gave no indication of the true significance of the change.

.A founding member country of the United Nations, Australia is strongly committed to multilateralism along with its middle power allies Canada and the Nordic countries, and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance.^Also, Australia was coming under increasing international pressure in relation to the treatment of Indigenous peoples.

.The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5 billion for development assistance;[47] as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that recommended in the UN Millennium Development Goals.^The Committee recommended the adoption of measures to provide opportunities for the Yirrkala people to participate in the opportunities the development would offer.

All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq. .The government appoints the Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current Chief of the Defence Force is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston.^MacDougall had been appointed by the Commonwealth Government as Native Patrol Officer in 1947 following undertakings to the Parliament by the Minister of Defence.

In the 2006–07 budget, defence spending was A$22 billion,[50] accounting for less than 1% of global military spending. Australia was placed 27th on the 2008 Global Peace Index, primarily due to its presence in Afghanistan.[51] While the Governor-General is the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force, he or she does not play an active part in the ADF's command structure as the elected Australian Government controls the ADF.[52]

Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi)[53] is on the Indo-Australian Plate. .Surrounded by the IndianN4 and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

.This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.^Unless an issue in the Territory touched the broader Australian community, or affected important economic interests, it was unlikely to get much attention in the Commonwealth Parliament.

.The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef,[57] lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (1,240 mi).^Between 1952 and 1957 a series of atomic tests were conducted at Monte Bello Islands, 80 kilometres off the coast of northern Western Australia, Emu in the Great Victoria Desert 400 kilometres north-west of Woomera, and Maralinga, north of Ooldea on the Transcontinental Railway 500 kilometres west of Woomera.

.Mount Augustus, claimed to be the world's largest monolith,[58] is located in Western Australia.^Also, while Grayden's claims about the removal of people from the area of the atomic tests to Western Australia may have been false, it was the case that Aborigines had been removed from the Maralinga area.

.By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback.^Commonwealth of Australia, Report from the Select Committee on Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, part I-Report and Minutes of Proceedings , Government Printer, Canberra, 1963, p.

Australia is the flattest continent, with the oldest and least fertile soils, and is the driest inhabited continent. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. .The population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, is among the lowest in the world, although a great proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.^Prior to the tests at Emu in October 1953 Aboriginal people who had lived at Ooldea, and in the surrounding country, were moved over 100 kilometres to the South to Yalata Mission near the Great Australian Bight.

Environment

Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. .Because of the continent's great age, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse.^This was rejected by the Parliament in favour of a number of exclusions from the Commonwealth franchise which were expressed in terms which became the pattern for much legislation which was to come.

.About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic.^The Government's reasons for a change of mind had more to do with its perception of public opinion, and concern about Australia's international image than with any conviction that the change was desirable.

[64] The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE.[65] Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement,[66] including the Australian megafauna; others have become extinct since European settlement, among them the thylacine.[67]

.Climate change has become an increasing concern in Australia in recent years,[68] with many Australians considering protection of the environment to be the most important issue facing the country.^The question of the use of delegated legislative power did become an important issue when, in later years, Regulations were used to set conditions for the employment of Aborigines.

^The Government's reasons for a change of mind had more to do with its perception of public opinion, and concern about Australia's international image than with any conviction that the change was desirable.

[69] The first Rudd Ministry has initiated several emission reduction activities;[70] Rudd's first official act, on his first day in office, was to sign the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. .Nevertheless, Australia's carbon dioxide emissions per capita are one of the highest in the world, lower than those of only a few other industrialised nations including the United States and Canada.^Special provisions in those laws which disadvantaged, or advantaged, Aborigines were not made invalid on account of the qualification 'other than the aboriginal race in any State' in s.

^Because the problem was one for the whole community, and because the Commonwealth 'is the custodian of the national reputation in the world at large' there was a special obligation on the Commonwealth to take the lead: .

[citation needed] Rainfall in Australia has slightly increased over the past century, both nationwide and for two quadrants of the nation,[71] while annual mean temperatures increased significantly over the past decades.[72]Water restrictions are currently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought.[73]

Economy

.The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu.^Australia, Asia, Africa, or the islands of the Pacific, or persons of the half blood shall be entitled to have his name placed on the electoral roll, unless so entitled under s.

^The Parliament rejected Government legislation for a uniform franchise which would have included all Indigenous peoples, and after a lengthy debate legislated to exclude 'aboriginal natives of Australia' from the Commonwealth franchise.

Australia is one of the most laissez-fairefree market economies, according to the Index of Economic Freedom. .Australia's per capita GDP is slightly higher than that of the United States, UK, Germany, and France.^The Aboriginal question, which was supported by all political parties, was overwhelmingly passed with a majority in support in all States, and an overall majority of 90.8 per cent-the largest ever majority for any referendum proposal in Australia.

.The country was ranked second in the United Nations 2009 Human Development Index, first in Legatum's 2008 Prosperity Index, and sixth in The Economist worldwide Quality-of-Life Index for 2005. All of Australia's major cities fare well in global comparative liveability surveys;[75] Melbourne reached 2nd place on The Economist's 2008 World's Most Livable Cities list, followed by Perth at 4th, Adelaide at 7th, and Sydney at 9th.^The Aboriginal question, which was supported by all political parties, was overwhelmingly passed with a majority in support in all States, and an overall majority of 90.8 per cent-the largest ever majority for any referendum proposal in Australia.

^Commonwealth of Australia, Bringing them Home: Report of the National Enquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families , Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney, 1997.

An emphasis on exportingcommodities rather than manufactures has underpinned a significant increase in Australia's terms of trade during the rise in commodity prices since the start of the century. Australia has a balance of payments that is more than 7% of GDP negative, and has had persistently large current account deficits for more than 50 years.[77] Australia has grown at an average annual rate of 3.6% for over 15 years, a period in which the OECD annual average was 2.5%.[77] Australia did not fall into a technical recession during the late 2000s recession that affected most other Western countries [78]

Destination and value of Australian exports in 2006

.The Hawke Government floated the Australian dollar in 1983 and partially deregulated the financial system.^It was not until 1983, with the passage of the South Australian Bannon Labor Government's Maralinga Land Rights Act , that the Maralinga People were given the opportunity to return to their land.

^In his own account of his time as Minister, Hasluck makes much of the unity of purpose which existed, not only between the Government and Opposition but also between the Commonwealth and State Governments.

[80].The indirect tax system was substantially changed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax (GST), which has slightly reduced the reliance on personal and company income tax that characterises Australia's tax system.^The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia and Indigenous Peoples 1901-1967 (Research Paper 10 2000-01) .

In January 2007, there were 10,033,480 people employed, with an unemployment rate of 4.6%.[81] Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2–3% and the base interest rate 5–6%. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, accounts for 69% of GDP.[82] Although agriculture and natural resources account for only 3% and 5% of GDP respectively, they contribute substantially to export performance. .Australia's largest export markets are Japan, China, the US, South Korea, and New Zealand.^As introduced, the Bill excluded 'Asiatics or aboriginal natives of Australia, Africa, the islands of the Pacific, or New Zealand.'

^These included the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association and the Aborigines Progressive Association in New South Wales, the Native Union in Western Australia and the Australian Aborigines' League in Victoria.

Most of the estimated 22 million Australians are descended from colonial-era settlers and post-Federation immigrants from Europe, with almost 90% of the population being of European descent. For generations, the vast majority of immigrants came from the British Isles, and the people of Australia are still mainly of British or Irish ethnic origin. In the 2006 Australian census, the most commonly nominated ancestry was Australian (37.13%),[85] followed by English (31.65%), Irish (9.08%), Scottish (7.56%), Italian (4.29%), German (4.09%), Chinese (3.37%), and Greek (1.84%).[86]

.Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I,[87] spurred by an ambitious immigration program.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

.Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born overseas.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

^House of Representatives be 'as nearly as practicable, twice the number of the senators'-were both passed through the two Houses of the Parliament with the support of both sides but neither was submitted to referendum.

[88] Most immigrants are skilled,[89] but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees.[89]

.In 2001, 23.1% of Australians were born overseas; the five largest immigrant groups were those from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, and China.^For an account of the Select Committee see Jack Horner, Vote Ferguson for Aboriginal Freedom , Australian and New Zealand Book Company, Sydney, 1974, pp.

[83][90].Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism.^In a wide ranging Parliamentary debate on Aboriginal policy which followed the Ministerial statement, speakers from both sides expressed general approval of the Government's proposal.

^As with the Apartheid laws in South Africa and the White Australia Policy, administrators were always confronted with problems of interpretation in relation to people who did not fit neatly in the racial categories established by the law.

[91].In 2005–06, more than 131,000 people emigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania.^As employers on pastoral holdings have claimed that many more natives have to be fed than are employed by them, the payment of wages has not been insisted upon, at any rate in North Australia.

^The Government's reasons for a change of mind had more to do with its perception of public opinion, and concern about Australia's international image than with any conviction that the change was desirable.

[92] The migration target for 2006–07 was 144,000.[93] The total immigration quota for 2008–09 is around 300,000—its highest level since the Immigration Department was created after World War II.[94][95]

Nearly three quarters of Australians live in metropolitan cities and coastal areas. The beach is an integral part of the Australian identity.[96]

.The Indigenous population—mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders—was counted at 410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1976 census, which counted an indigenous population of 115,953.[97] A large number of Indigenous people are not identified in the Census due to undercount and cases where their Indigenous status is not recorded on the form; after adjusting for these factors, the ABS estimated the true figure for 2001 to be approximately 460,140 (2.4% of the total population).^Bureau of Statistics in publishing census data excluded Aborigines but not Torres Strait Islanders.

.Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education, and life expectancies for males and females that are 11–17 years lower than those of non-indigenous Australians.^Those accused of killing the Japanese were found guilty at a trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court conducted by Judge Wells and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

[83][99][100].Some remote Indigenous communities have been described as having "failed state"-like conditions.^The Aborigines Protection League urges that an area be set aside for our aboriginals, and that a model State should be created and governed by an administrator, the aboriginal himself having some voice in its government.

.In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age.^In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age.

In 2004, the average age of the civilian population was 38.8 years.[102] A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03)[103] live outside their home country.

Language

English is the national language.[104]Australian English is a major variety of the language. It has a unique accent and a small number of peculiar terms, some of which have found their way into other varieties of English. Australian English has less internal dialectal variation than either British English or American English. Grammar and spelling are largely based on those of British English..March 2010" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] According to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population.^Of the total 'full-blood' population of the Northern Territory only about 80 were intentionally omitted from the Register.

The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%), and Greek (1.4%).[citation needed]

A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. .It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Indigenous Australian languages at the time of first European contact.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

^In the first instance the Range would only extend 300 miles from Woomera, but it would be lengthened in stages through the Central Aboriginal Reserves and on to the Western Australian coast between Port Hedland and Broome.

^Aborigines were the majority population in the Territory and many still lived in a frontier situation on cattle stations or in more remote areas beyond the frontier where there had been very little contact between Aborigines and Europeans.

.Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and many are only spoken by older people; only 18 Indigenous languages are still spoken by all age groups.^The Parliament rejected Government legislation for a uniform franchise which would have included all Indigenous peoples, and after a lengthy debate legislated to exclude 'aboriginal natives of Australia' from the Commonwealth franchise.

[105] An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.25%) people. .Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people.^Also, while Grayden's claims about the removal of people from the area of the atomic tests to Western Australia may have been false, it was the case that Aborigines had been removed from the Maralinga area.

Religion

.Australia has no state religion.^Had Gladys Namagu been able to return to her home State of Western Australia there would have been no legal obstacle to the marriage (provided she was 21 years of age).

In the 2006 census, 64% of Australians listed themselves as Christian, including 26% as Roman Catholic and 19% as Anglican. .About 19% of the population cited "No religion" (which includes humanism, atheism, agnosticism, and rationalism), which was the fastest-growing group (refer difference in census 2006 versus census 2001 results) and a further 12% did not answer (the question is optional) or did not give a response adequate for interpretation.^G. Sawer argues that there is no clear answer to the question.

The second largest religion in Australia is Buddhism (2.1%), followed by Islam (1.7%), Hinduism (0.8%) and Judaism (0.5%). Overall, fewer than 6% of Australians identify with non-Christian religions.[106] Weekly attendance at church services in 2004 was about 1.5 million: about 7.5% of the population.[107] Religion does not play a central role in the lives of much of the population, although young adults are somewhat more religious than their elders.[108]

Education

School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. In most Australian States at 5–6 years of age all children receive 11 years of compulsory education, then can move on to complete two more years (Years 11 and 12), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. In the Programme for International Student Assessment, Australia regularly scores among the top five of thirty major developed countries (member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities the majority of universities receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocational training, higher than colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications,[83] and the tertiary graduation rate of 49% is the highest among OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries.[109]

Since 1788, the primary basis of Australian culture has been Anglo-CelticWestern culture. Distinctive Australian cultural features have also arisen from the country's natural environment and Indigenous cultures. Since the middle of the 20th century, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture, particularly through television and cinema. Other cultural influences are from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries.

.Many of Australia's performing arts companies (see Theatre of Australia and Dance in Australia) receive funding through the federal government's Australia Council.^See J. Summers, 'Aborigines and Government in the Twentieth Century' in Eric Richards, ed., The Flinders History of Australia: Social History , Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 1986, pp.

.There is a symphony orchestra in each of the states' capital cities, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, which became prominent through the singer Joan Sutherland.^Had Gladys Namagu been able to return to her home State of Western Australia there would have been no legal obstacle to the marriage (provided she was 21 years of age).

.The Australian cinema industry began with the 1906 release of the The Story of the Kelly Gang, which is regarded as being the world's first feature-length film[112], but both Australian feature film production and the distribution of British-made features declined dramatically after World War I as American studios and distributors monopolised the industry[113] and by the 1930s around 95% of the feature films screened in Australia were produced in Hollywood.^The initial commitments on behalf of Australia were made on the basis of discussions between the British Government and the Australian Prime Minister, the Rt Hon.

.By the late 1950s feature film production in Australia had effectively ceased and there were no all-Australian feature films made in the decade between 1959 and 1969[114].^Paul Hasluck observed that in almost all the popular literature written during the war about post-war reconstruction there is almost no mention of Aboriginal welfare.

.Each major city has daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review.^At the end of World War Two there were secret discussions between the British and Australian Governments about building a facility in Australia for testing guided missiles.

^Aborigines are not a dying race; they are not being absorbed, or assimilated ..., and there are many educated and sophisticated aborigines who want to see their race preserved intact, who do not want to be absorbed by the majority of Australians.

.According to Reporters Without Borders in 2008, Australia was in 25th position on a list of 173 countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (7th) and the United Kingdom (23rd) but ahead of the United States (48th).^Walmalla tribe on a marauding expedition from the border of Western Australia into the Coniston country-the tribe had intentioned to wipe out the settlers and working boys, as the evidence shows, .

.This low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia;[115] in particular, most Australian print media are under the control of News Corporation and Fairfax Media.^Markus, A., 'Under The Act', in B. Gammage and P. Spearritt, eds, Australians 1938 , Fairfax, Syme and Weldon Associates, Sydney, 1987, pp.

Australian food traditions have largely been shaped by those that have settled in Australia. Throughout the majority of Australian history, Australian cuisine was based on traditional Indiginous bushfood using native berries, fruit, fish, kangaroo and even insects such as the Witchetty grub. Later, British food was introduced, brought to the country by the first British settlers, with the Sunday roast an enduring tradition in many Australian families. .In the 19th and especially 20th century, food began to reflect the influences of Mediterranean and Asian cultures, introduced by many immigrants who arrived in Australia during this period.^Legislation was introduced to make all Indians who were British subjects in Australia eligible to vote.

.Today, food from all over the world is popular in Australia, with Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian and Mexican cuisine standing out.^If the experiments are not to be conducted in Australia, with all our natural advantages for this purpose, we are contracting out of the common defence of the free world.

Cricket has been an important part of Australia's sporting culture since the 19th Century

.Approximately 24% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities in Australia.^The activities of these humanitarian and church organisations were given impetus by the development of anthropological studies in Australia.

[83].Australia has strong international teams in cricket, soccer / football, field hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling, rowing, and swimming.^These included the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association and the Aborigines Progressive Association in New South Wales, the Native Union in Western Australia and the Australian Aborigines' League in Victoria.

^Oz is often taken as an oblique reference to the fictional Land of Oz in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939), based on L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).[119] Australians' "image of Australia as a 'Land of Oz' is not new, and dedication to it runs deep".[120] The spelling Oz is likely to have been influenced by the 1939 film, though the pronunciation was probably always with a /z/, as it is also for Aussie, sometimes spelt Ozzie.[121] The Baz Luhrmann film Australia (2008) makes repeated reference to The Wizard of Oz, which appeared just before the wartime action of Australia. One reviewer writes: "You even nod with approval at Luhrmann's audacity for cribbing from 'The Wizard of Oz' in his depiction of his Land of Oz, Australia, as a magical place over the rainbow."[122] Some critics have even speculated that Baum was inspired by Australia, in naming the Land of Oz: "In Ozma of Oz (1907) Dorothy gets back to Oz as the result of a storm at sea while she and Uncle Henry are traveling by ship to Australia. So, like Australia, Oz is somewhere to the west of California. Like Australia, Oz is an island continent. Like Australia, Oz has inhabited regions bordering on a great desert. One might almost imagine that Baum intended Oz to be Australia, or perhaps a magical land in the center of the great Australian desert."[123]

^ Savolainen, P. et al. 2004. A detailed picture of the origin of the Australian dingo, obtained from the study of mitochondrial DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101:12387–12390 PMID.

So without an original or helpful thought in my head, I just
sat for some minutes and watched these poor disconnected people
shuffle past. Then I did what most white Australians do. I read my
newspaper and drank my coffee and didn't see them anymore.

Bill Bryson,
In a Sunburned Country (US) / Down Under (UK)
(2000), on the topic of Aboriginals.

Well, I didn't ever think about Australia much. To me Australia
had never been very interesting, it was just something that
happened in the background. It was Neighbours and Crocodile Dundee
movies and things that never really registered with me and I didn't
pay any attention to it at all. I went out there in 1992, as I was
invited to the Melbourne Writers Festival, and I got there and
realised almost immediately that this was a really really
interesting country and I knew absolutely nothing about it. As I
say in the book, the thing that really struck me was that they had
this prime minister who disappeared in 1967, Harold Holt and I had
never heard about this. I should perhaps tell you because a lot of
other people haven't either. In 1967 Harold Holt was prime minister
and he was walking along a beach in Victoria just before Christmas
and decided impulsively to go for a swim and dove into the water
and swam about 100 feet out and vanished underneath the waves,
presumably pulled under by the ferocious undertow or rips as they
are called, that are a feature of so much of the Australian
coastline. In any case, his body was never found. Two things about
that amazed me. The first is that a country could just lose a prime
minister — that struck me as a really quite special thing to do —
and the second was that I had never heard of this. I could not
recall ever having heard of this. I was sixteen years old in 1967.
I should have known about it and I just realised that there were
all these things about Australia that I had never heard about that
were actually very very interesting. The more I looked into it, the
more I realised that it is a fascinating place. The thing that
really endeared Australia to me about Harold Holt's disappearance
was not his tragic drowning, but when I learned that about a year
after he disappeared the City of Melbourne, his home town, decided
to commemorate him in some appropriate way and named a municipal
swimming pool after him. I just thought: this is a great country.

AUSTRALIA, n. A country lying in the South Sea, whose
industrial and commercial development has been unspeakably retarded
by an unfortunate dispute among geographers as to whether it is a
continent or an island.

Dialogue

Man in Black: You've made your decision
then?

Vizzini: Not remotely. Because iocane comes
from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely
peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not
trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not
choose the wine in front of you.

Man in Black: Truly you have a dizzying
intellect.

Vizzini: Wait 'til I get going... where was
I?

Man in Black: Australia.

Vizzini: Yes, Australia, and you must have
suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly
not choose the wine in front of me.

Australia[1] is the only country that
has a whole continent itself. World famous for its natural wonders
and wide open spaces, its beaches, deserts, "the bush", and "the Outback", Australia is actually
one of the world's most highly urbanised countries. It is also well
known for the cosmopolitan attractions of its large cities such as
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Understand

Geography

Australia is the world's smallest continent but sixth-largest
country; it's slightly smaller than the 48 contiguous United
States. The highly urbanised population is heavily concentrated
along the eastern and south-eastern coasts. Australia is bordered
on the northwest, west, and southwest by the Indian Ocean, and on
the east by the South Pacific Ocean. The Tasman Sea lies to the
southeast, separating it from New Zealand, while the Great Barrier
Reef lies to the northeast. Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia are Australia's
northern neighbours, separated from Australia by the Arafura Sea
and the Timor Sea.

Australia has an area of 7,682,300 square kilometres (2,966,152
sq mi). Many travellers underestimate the distances between cities
and towns.

Australia has large areas that have been deforested for
agricultural purposes: forest areas survive in extensive national
parks and some other areas.

Climate

As a large continent a wide variation of climates are found
across Australia. The north is hot and tropical, while south tends
to sub-tropical and temperate. Most rainfall is around the coast,
and much of the centre is arid and
semi-arid. The daytime maximum temperatures in Darwin rarely drop below 30°C
(86°F), even in winter, while night temperatures in winter usually
hover around 15-20°C. Temperatures in some southern regions can
drop below freezing in winter and the Snowy Mountains in the South
East experiences metres of winter snow. Parts of Tasmania have a temperature
range very similar to England.

As Australia is in the southern hemisphere, the timing of the
seasons is reversed with respect to Europe and North America.
June-August is winter in Australia while December-February is
summer. The winter is the dry season in the tropics, and the summer
is the wet. On the other hand, in the southern parts of the
country, the summer tends to be hot and dry with temperatures
sometimes climbing as high as 45°C, while winters tend to be much
cooler (5-20°C) and is when most of the rain falls. The seasons
start at the beginning of the months rather than on the solstices.
Christmas falls in the summer in Australia.

Summer tends to be the peak travel season through much of the
south, with the winter (dry) season the peak travel season in the
tropics, although most attractions remain open year-round.

Much of Australia is prone to severe drought, especially during
the summer months.

History

The continent of Australia was first settled more than 40,000
years ago with successive waves of immigration of Aboriginal
peoples from south and south-east Asia. With rising sea levels
after the last Ice Age, Australia became largely isolated from the
rest of the world and the Aboriginal tribes developed a variety of
cultures, based on a close (spiritual) relationship with the land
and nature, and extended kinship. Australian aboriginal people
maintained a hunter-gatherer culture for thousands of years in
association with a complex artistic and cultural life - including a
very rich 'story-telling' tradition. While the 'modern impression'
of Australian Aboriginal people is largely built around an image of
the 'desert people' who have adapted to some of the harshest
conditions on the planet (equivalent to the bushmen of the
Kalahari), Australia provided a 'comfortable living' for the bulk
of the Aboriginal people amongst the bountiful flora and fauna on
the Australian coast - until the arrival of Europeans.

Although a lucrative Chinese market for shells and beche de
mere had encouraged Indonesian fishermen to visit Northern
Australia for centuries it was unknown to Europeans until the
1600's, when Dutch traders to Asia began to 'bump' into the Western
Coast. Early Dutch impressions of this extremely harsh, dry country
were unfavourable, and Australia remained for them something simply
a road sign pointing north to the much richer (and lucrative) East
Indies (modern Indonesia). Deliberate exploration of the Australian
coast was then largely taken over by the French and the British.
Consequently place names of bays, headlands and rivers around the
coastline reflect a range of Dutch, French, British, and Aboriginal
languages.

In 1770, the expedition of the Endeavour under the command of
Captain James Cook navigated and charted the east coast of
Australia, making first landfall at Botany Bay on 29 Apr 1770. Cook
continued northwards, and before leaving put ashore on Possession
Island in the Torres Strait off Cape York on 22 Aug 1770. Here he
formally claimed the eastern coastline he had discovered for the
British Crown, naming it New South Wales. Given that Cook's
discoveries would lead to the first European settlement of
Australia, he is often popularly conceived as its European
discoverer, although he had been preceded by more than 160
years.

Following the exploration period, the first wave of British
settlers came to Australia in 1788, starting a process of
colonisation that almost entirely displaced the Aboriginal people
who inhabited the land. This reduced indigenous populations
drastically and marginalised them to the fringes of society.

While Australia began its modern history as a British penal
colony, the vast majority of people who came to Australia after
1788 were free settlers, mainly from Britain and Ireland, but also
from other European countries. Convict settlements were along the
east coast, Adelaide (settled in 1836) and Perth being settled by
free settlers. Many Asian and Eastern European people also came to
Australia in the 1850s, during the Gold Rush that started
Australia's first resource boom. Although such diverse immigration
diminished greatly during the xenophobic years of the White
Australia policy, Australia welcomed a successive series of
immigration from Europe, the Mediterranean and later Asia to
formulate a highly diverse and multicultural society by the late
20th century.

The system of separate colonies federated to form the
self-governing British dominion of Australia in 1901, each colony
now becoming a state of Australia, with New Zealand opting out of
the federation. The new country was able to take advantage of its
natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and
manufacturing industries and made a proportionally huge
contribution (considering its small size of population) to the
Allied war effort in World Wars I and II. Australian troops also
made a valuable, if sometimes controversial, contribution to the
wars in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Australian Diggers retain a
reputation as some of the hardest fighting troops along with a
great social spirit. Australia ended all constitutional links with
the United Kingdom in 1986, with both the British and Australian
parliaments passing the Australia Act, though the British queen
retained her position as the head of state, with an appointed
Governor-General as her representative in Australia.

Government in Australia is based on a federal system (with
States and a National Governments) similar to the USA, but these
Governments follow a British model, with two elected houses
(similar to the US House and Senate) with an unelected
representative of the Queen of The United Kingdom in the
(notionally powerless) executive position 'above' the parliament. A
referendum to change Australia's status to a republic was narrowly
defeated in 1999.

Long-term Australian concerns include salinity, pollution, loss
of biodiversity, and management and conservation of coastal areas,
especially the Great Barrier Reef.

Most of the population is concentrated in the south-east of the
country, to the east of the Great Dividing Range. Most of the
inland and western areas of the country are at best semi-habitable
desert, known as the Outback. The most-inhabited states
are Victoria and New South
Wales, but by far the largest in land area is Western
Australia.

Culture

Broadly speaking, Australian culture closely resembles that of
the United Kingdom. Contrary to popular mythology, descendants from
convicts are in a small minority, and even during the years of
transportation free settlers outnumbered convict migrants by at
least five to one.

Australia also has a large multicultural population from various
nations and practicing almost every religion and lifestyle. Over
one-fifth of Australians were born to immigrant parents. The most
multicultural cities are Melbourne and Sydney. Both cities are renowned for the variety
and quality of global foods available in their many restaurants,
and Melbourne especially promotes itself as a centre for the arts.
Smaller rural settlements generally still reflect a majority
Anglo-Celtic monoculture (often with a small Aboriginal
population), however virtually every large Australian city and town
reflects the immigration from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the
Pacific that occurred after World War II and continued into the
1970s; in the half century after the war when Australia's
population boomed from roughly 7 million to just over 20 million
people.

There are approximately half a million Australians who identify
as being of Aboriginal descent. Many fewer maintain elements of
traditional Aboriginal culture.

Australian English was once known for its colour and
colloquialisms but has lost a great deal of this to outside
influence, although people in rural areas still tend to speak in a
broader accent, using many of the slang words that have become
outmoded in metropolitan areas. There is very little provincialism
in Australia and although accents tend to be broader and slower
outside of the large cities.

Australians can be socially conservative compared to some
European cultures, and most resemble Canadians or New Zealanders in
their political outlook. They tend to be relaxed in their religious
observance. While the mythic Australian sense egalitarianism has
declined in economic terms, modes of address still tend to be
casual and familiar compared to some other cultures. Most
Australians irrespective of socioeconomic status will tend to
address you by your first name and will expect that you do the same
to them.

Holidays

The national holidays in Australia are:

January 1: New Years' Day

January 26: Australia Day, marking the
anniversary of the First Fleet's landing in Sydney Cove in
1788.

Easter weekend ("Good Friday", "Easter
Saturday", "Easter Sunday" and "Easter Monday"): a four day long
weekend in March or April set according to the Western Christian
dates.

April 25: ANZAC Day, honouring military
veterans

Second Monday in June: Queen's birthday
holiday (celebrated in Western Australia in September)(WA observes
Foundation Day a week earlier)

December 25: Christmas Day

December 26: Boxing Day

Many states observe Labour Day, but on
completely separate days. Most states have one or two additional
state-wide holidays.

When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday (Easter
excepted), the following Monday (and Tuesday if necessary) are
sometimes declared holidays in lieu, although both the celebrations
and the major retail shutdowns will occur on the day itself. Most
tourist attractions are closed on public holidays. Supermarkets and
other stores may open for limited hours on some public holidays and
on holidays in lieu, but are almost always closed on Good Friday,
Easter Sunday, ANZAC Day morning and Christmas Day.

Salaried Australians have four weeks of annual leave every year
and domestic tourism is strongest during January and the Easter
school holidays.

Economy

Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy,
with a per capita GDP on par with the four dominant West European
economies.

Services – tourism, education, financial services. The service
industry accounts for the majority of the Australian Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) – about 69%. Within the service sector, tourism is
one of the most important industries in Australia, as it provides
employment, contributes $73 billion to the economy each year and
accounts for at least 11% of total exports.

The minimum wage in Australia set by the federal government is
$14.31 per hour; even higher than the minimum wage in the United
States or the United Kingdom. However, the individual states are
free to set their own minumum wages higher than what is prescribed
by the federal government. As such, even workers doing low-skilled
menial jobs are relatively well paid.

Agriculture is yet another significant part of the Australian
economy, accounting for about 3% of the GDP, although historically
it was far more important, representing 80% of the GDP as recently
as the 1950s.

Time

Australia can have up to five different time zones during the
daylight savings period, and three at other times.